The city has put the 795-acre data center project on the agenda for a Joliet City Council meeting on March 16, making it possible for approval of the controversial project in the next two weeks.

City votes on the project are being arranged quickly after having been put on hold since October, suggesting the plan may be on its way to approval.

Staff is recommending approval of the data center in a report attached to the agenda for a special Plan Commission meeting on the matter behind held at 4 p.m. Thursday. The agenda came out Tuesday afternoon.

The city on Feb. 20 announced that a special meeting of the Plan Commission would be held to consider the plan for the Joliet Technology Center.

On Saturday, the city published a legal notice in The Herald-News that the City Council will conduct a public hearing on the data center project at a combined council meeting at 5:30 p.m. March 16.

Both meetings are outside the usual schedules for the Plan Commission and the City Council.

The Plan Commission normally meets on the third Thursdays of the month but will consider the data center project at a special meeting devoted solely to the project.

The City Council, which has the final say on development proposals, typically does not take up matters considered by the Plan Commission until the following month or two months later.

In this case, the City Council is likely to vote on the data center plan less than two weeks after a vote at the Plan Commission.

The City Council meeting will be a combined meeting, meaning it combines the usual Monday pre-council, or workshop meeting, with the usual Tuesday regular meeting, when the council typically votes on matters presented to them the night before.

The meeting was combined because of state law barring public bodies from holding meetings on Election Day, city spokeswoman Ann Sylvester said.

The primary election is March 17.

Data center projects have been controversial across Illinois, in part because of their demands for electricity and water for operations.

The city noted those concerns raised by area residents when the data center plan was pulled off of the Plan Commission agenda in October.

City officials have said little about the project until the city launched a web page dedicated to the data center plan on the city web site on Feb. 20.

But both the Plan Commission and City Council have heard from opponents, who have used opportunities to comment at public meetings to voice their opposition.

The usually development friendly Plan Commission is likely to hear from opponents at the Thursday meeting.

They may also hear from the influential building trades unions, which back the project with its promise to create 10,000 construction jobs.

Both sides came out in numbers at an open house held Feb. 12 by data center developers Hillwood and PowerHouse Data Centers.

“We want to be good neighbors,” Donald Schoenheider, executive vice president with Hillwood, said at the open house. “We want to be part of the community.”

Up to now, there has not been a showing of public support for the project, however, beyond the building trades unions, even though Schoenheider said the data center will create more than 700 permanent jobs that he said pay $125,000 and up at other data centers.

People have been skeptical about future jobs at the Joliet Technology Center.

The benefits and drawbacks of data centers have become a statewide and national issue, raising questions about their impact on electricity rates, employment, and water availability.

City Manager Beth Beatty in late January said staff was doing their “due diligence” in getting answers on questions being raised in the community.

The staff report to the Plan Commission notes the positive impact of the proposed Joliet Technology Center, including jobs and an estimated $310 million in property taxes over 30 years.

Water use, due to a closed-loop system designed for the project, would be less than what the city had expected in the area with light industrial development, according to the staff report.

The report also describes the future data center as being energy self-sufficient due to system upgrades being designed by ComEd for the project and paid for by the developers.

At full build-out, the data center will use 1,800 megawatts of electricity a year, according to the report.

“The data center will secure and pay for its own electricity, independent of residential or small business service,” the report states.